Retirement complex planned near Slidell

Plans for a new retirement community near Slidell have won approval from the St. Tammany Parish Zoning Commission, though the developer's request for a permit to fill wetlands for the project has not yet been granted.

Ron Duhe wants to build the Summerfield Retirement Community on 14 acres along Brownswitch Road, on a site located between Robert Road and Interstate 59. The facility is slated to have 110 assisted living units in nine buildings, adjacent to the Ozone Pines subdivision.

The zoning commission voted Tuesday to approve Duhe's request to rezone the property from commercial and suburban agriculture designations to an institutional designation, and granted a second request to operate a retirement community in an institutional zone, which is a conditional use, said Steve Duvernay, who represented Duhe before the commission.

The St. Tammany Parish Council still must approve Duhe's request before the rezoning and conditional use permit are final.

Duhe also has asked the Army Corps of Engineers for a state water quality permit to fill wetlands on the site with a sandy clay material to construct the buildings, parking lots, streets, utilities and a retention pond, according to a public notice posted by the corps to give residents a chance to comment on the project. The comment period ends June 26.